COMMENTARY: An educator’s view:?school consolidations – what’s next?
Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says “…there is nothing new under the sun.” Most people think this phrase means nothing changes, which is far different from “nothing new.” Things are changing in Wallowa County and in my opinion these changes so far are not for the better.
In 1995-96 there were over 1600 children attending public school. Today there are approximately 846 students attending the four school districts in Wallowa County. This reduction has impacted the county on several levels. The first and foremost impact has been the loss of revenue to schools. In today’s dollars, this loss of students equates to an annual loss in revenue for the county’s schools of $4,524,000. The second major impact on the schools has been the loss of instructional time for the students they serve. By my count, since the beginning of this precipitous drop in student numbers, 27 teachers have been let go or not replaced when they retired. (According to Superintendent Brad Royse, Enterprise has lost 17 teachers (42 percent) of its certified staff and 42 percent of the aides that used to work serving students; the other school’s losses are not as large but just as significant.)
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For anyone thinking because “we” work for the government that we don’t care or don’t do a good job is belied by the following fact. All during this time of losing revenue, the remaining teachers of this county have continued to provide a very high standard of education to the students of their communities. This quality of instruction has been looked at with amazement by state officials several times. The schools and county commissioners occasionally get plaques testifying to this fact.
The average General Service Grant funding per student, as counted in the state’s “average daily membership weighted formula” (ADM) for Education Service Districts (ESDs), is $296.51 per student. Wallowa ESD’s funding is $794.41 per ADM – the highest in the state. If the legislators in the upcoming interim session or the 2011 regular session merge this ESD with other ESDs, the county school districts will lose support funding at the rate of $626,756.52 per year, in today’s dollars. The battle to oppose mergers has been waged by me and others since 1993. So far we have prevailed; although, this last session we came extremely close to losing. As I have told anyone who will listen, we have to win every time and they only have to win once and it is over for good; there won’t be any “we’ll get’m next time.”
To exacerbate this conflict, the legislature, for the first time in 20 years, is talking about consolidating small schools. (A remote possibility at this time, but with the huge losses to state revenues it could become very real, very fast). If they would be successful in forcing consolidation of school districts the county’s communities of Joseph, Imnaha, Troy and Wallowa could lose their schools. Under present law, four years after consolidation of small school districts into a big one, the small school’s correction goes away. This would be a minimum annual loss of $1,537,579.80 to the students of Wallowa County. Total minimum annual revenue loss, if the ESD and School mergers were to occur, would be $2,164,335.80.
I need to reiterate I am not a prophet, I don’t know the future, I am terrible at predictions and by no means the sharpest tool in the shed. Nevertheless, what is worrisome is the loss of this amount of revenue will be devastating to really good school systems and the quality of education students presently receive. Additionally, the loss of any community’s school(s) will be catastrophic for the community and for the county as a whole. These communities cannot survive structurally or grow economically without a school presence in the community.
It is my belief that it is time for the school districts and the ESD to be proactive and seriously attempt to form an all inclusive administrative district. This administrative district would function not only as the local school board for each of the districts, but the ESD board as well. They should look to attempt to form this administrative district so every community gets to keep its school(s), their sports programs, and the educational programs they have. In an administrative district there would be one board (5 or 7 members) and one superintendent for the whole county. No more ESD, Wallowa, Joseph, Enterprise or Troy School Boards/superintendents as they exist and function now.
In an administrative district there is a naturally strong potential to aggregate resources not possible under 4 school districts. The local boards and administrators have looked for ways to share resources and staff until they are blue in the face and for one reason or another (most of them valid to the district sharing the resource) it has never come to fruition.
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Please understand the formation of an administrative district is not about saving money by reducing costs. How much, when and what savings might occur should be left to the new board and new superintendent and not be the focus of our conversation. The formation of the administrative district is about: 1) mitigating the effects of falling enrollment through aggregation and management of resources; 2) attempting to retain substantial portions of the revenue streams funding our schools; 3) preserving and maybe even enhancing the education our students receive – your children/our future; 4) helping to preserve the communities that have made this county not only unique but a tremendously wonderful place to live.
Edward M. Jensen is superintendent of the Wallowa Education Service District.